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List of municipal districts in Alberta

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Rural municipalities and specialized municipalities of Alberta

A municipal district is the most common form of all rural municipality statuses used in the Canadian Province of Alberta. Alberta's municipal districts, most of which are branded as counties, are predominantly rural areas that may include either farmland, Crown land or a combination of both depending on their geographic location. They may also include country residential subdivisions and unincorporated communities, some of which are recognized as hamlets[1] by Alberta Municipal Affairs.

Municipal districts are created when predominantly rural areas with populations of at least 1,000 people, where a majority of their residential buildings are on parcels of land greater than 1,850 m², apply to Alberta Municipal Affairs for municipal district status under the authority of the Municipal Government Act.[2] Applications for municipal district status are approved via orders in council made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under recommendation from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.[2]

Alberta has 64 municipal districts that had a cumulative population of 451,979 and an average population of 7,062 in the 2011 Census.[3] Alberta's largest and smallest municipal districts are Rocky View County and the Municipal District (M.D.) of Ranchland No. 66 with populations of 36,461 and 79 respectively.[3]

439 elected officials (seven mayors, 57 reeves and 375 councillors) provide municipal district governance throughout the province.[4]

Branding

An order in council to incorporate any municipality must give the municipality an official name.[2] Of Alberta's 64 municipal districts, 18 still have municipal district in their official names, while 46 of them have branded themselves as counties in their official names.

The use of the county term in the official names of 46 municipal districts (and two specialized municipalities) has partially led to a common belief that a county is its own separate municipal status type, which is not the case. The other major contributor to this common belief is that a county was once a former municipal status type in Alberta prior to the County Act being repealed in the mid-1990s. Those municipalities that were once officially incorporated as counties were continued under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) as municipal districts and were permitted to retain the term county in their official names.[5]

List of municipal districts

The below table is a list of only those rural municipalities in Alberta that are incorporated as municipal districts.

Mackenzie County, Strathcona County and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo are not listed because they are incorporated as specialized municipalities, not municipal districts. For more information on specialized municipalities, see Specialized municipalities of Alberta.

Alberta's seven improvement districts and three special areas are also not listed because they are their own separate type of rural municipality and not subset types of the municipal district status. For more information on special areas, see Special Areas Board.

Name Former No. Council
Size[4] 		Census division
No. 		Seat Area
(km²)[3] 		Population (2011)[3] Population (2006)[6][7]
Acadia No. 34, Municipal District (M.D.) of   5 4 Acadia Valley 1,076.26 495 545
Athabasca County 12 9 13 Athabasca 6,122.75 7,662 7,592
Barrhead No. 11, County of   7 13 Barrhead 2,404.7 6,096 5,845
Beaver County 9 5 10 Ryley 3,315.84 5,689 5,676
Big Lakes, M.D. of 125 9 17 High Prairie 13,928.13 4,194[8] 4,030[9]
Bighorn No. 8, M.D. of   5 15 Exshaw 2,767.94 1,341 1,454
Birch Hills County 19 7 19 Wanham 2,856.69 1,582 1,470
Bonnyville No. 87, M.D. of   7 12 Bonnyville 6,057.44 10,101[8] 9,047[9]
Brazeau County 77 7 11 Drayton Valley 3,020.71 7,201 7,040
Camrose County 22 7 10 Camrose 3,320.61 7,721 7,160
Cardston County 6 7 3 Cardston 3,414.87 4,167 4,037
Clear Hills County 21 7 17 Worsley 15,115.03 2,801 2,714
Clearwater County 99 7 9 Rocky Mountain House 18,691.78 12,278 11,826
Cypress County 1 9 1 Dunmore 13,160.44 7,214 6,729
Fairview No. 136, M.D. of   5 19 Fairview 1,389.01 1,673 1,856
Flagstaff County 29 7 7 Sedgewick 4,065.56 3,244 3,506
Foothills No. 31, M.D. of   7 6 High River 3,642.9 21,258 19,736
Forty Mile No. 8, County of   7 1 Foremost 7,229.68 3,336 3,414
Grande Prairie No. 1, County of   9 19 Clairmont 5,862.74 20,347 17,970
Greenview No. 16, M.D. of   8 18 Valleyview 32,989.05 5,299 5,464
Kneehill County 48 7 5 Three Hills 3,380.04 4,921 5,218
Lac La Biche County — 9 12 Lac La Biche 16,300.95 8,402 9,123
Lac Ste. Anne County 28 7 13 Sangudo 2,845.61 10,260 9,516
Lacombe County 14 7 8 Lacombe 2,766.65 10,312 10,451
Lamont County 30 5 10 Lamont 2,385.91 3,872 3,925
Leduc County 25 7 11 Nisku 2,607.56 13,524[10] 12,730
Lesser Slave River No. 124, M.D. of   7 17 Slave Lake 10,075.88 2,929 2,820
Lethbridge, County of 26 7 2 Lethbridge 2,837.8 10,061 10,302
Minburn No. 27, County of   7 10 Vegreville 2,910.71 3,278 3,319
Mountain View County 17 7 6 Didsbury 3,779.34 12,359 12,391
Newell, County of 4 10 2 Brooks 5,904.72 6,786 6,862
Northern Lights, County of 22 7 17 Manning 20,744.41 3,555[8] 3,556[8]
Northern Sunrise County 131 6 17 Peace River 21,141.25 1,791 1,747
Opportunity No. 17, M.D. of   11 17 Wabasca 29,140.78 3,074 2,847
Paintearth No. 18, County of   7 7 Castor 3,287.24 2,029 2,126
Parkland County 31 7 11 Stony Plain 2,387.68 30,568 29,265
Peace No. 135, M.D. of   5 19 Berwyn 850.88 1,446[10] 1,487
Pincher Creek No. 9, M.D. of   5 3 Pincher Creek 3,480.91 3,158 3,309
Ponoka County 3 5 8 Ponoka 2,807.94 8,856 8,640
Provost No. 52, M.D. of   7 7 Provost 3,625.2 2,288 2,547
Ranchland No. 66, M.D. of   3 15 Nanton 2,639.16 79 86
Red Deer County 23 7 8 Red Deer 3,949 18,351 19,108
Rocky View County 44 9 6 Calgary 3,885.41 36,461 34,171
Saddle Hills County 20 7 19 Spirit River 5,836.92 2,288 2,458
Smoky Lake County 13 5 12 Smoky Lake 3,412.81 2,459[8] 2,716[9]
Smoky River No. 130, M.D. of   6 19 Falher 2,842.59 2,126 2,442
Spirit River No. 133, M.D. of   4 19 Spirit River 684.14 713 662
St. Paul No. 19, County of   7 12 St. Paul 3,296.72 5,831 5,925
Starland County 47 5 5 Morrin 2,557.7 2,057 2,371
Stettler No. 6, County of   7 7 Stettler 4,005.1 5,103[10] 5,216
Sturgeon County 90 7 11 Morinville 2,088.55 19,578 18,621
Taber, M.D. of 14 7 2 Taber 4,203.79 6,851 6,280
Thorhild County   5 13 Thorhild 2,000.05 3,417 3,042
Two Hills No. 21, County of   5 10 Two Hills 2,631.33 3,160 2,801
Vermilion River, County of 24 7 10 Kitscoty 5,518.18 7,905 7,467
Vulcan County 2 9 5 Vulcan 5,429.5 3,875 3,718
Wainwright No. 61, M.D. of   7 7 Wainwright 4,153.72 4,138 3,558
Warner No. 5, County of   7 2 Warner 4,517.67 3,841 3,776
Westlock County 92 7 13 Westlock 3,170.71 7,644 6,910
Wetaskiwin No. 10, County of   7 11 Wetaskiwin 3,129.4 10,866 10,535
Wheatland County 16 7 5 Strathmore 4,539.26 8,285 8,164
Willow Creek No. 26, M.D. of   7 3 Claresholm 4,558.89 5,107 5,337
Woodlands County 15 7 13 Whitecourt 7,668.31 4,306 4,158
Yellowhead County 94 9 14 Edson 22,296.26 10,469 10,045

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alberta counties.

References

  1. ^ "2010 Municipal Codes" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  2. ^ a b c "Municipal Government Act". Alberta Queen's Printer. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
  3. ^ a b c d "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2011 and 2006 censuses (Alberta)". Statistics Canada. 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  4. ^ a b "Municipal Profiles (Municipal Districts)" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. 2010-03-26. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
  5. ^ "Transitional Provisions, Consequential Amendments, Repeal and Commencement (Municipal Government Act)" (PDF). Province of Alberta. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  6. ^ "Population and dwelling counts, for Canada, provinces and territories, and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2006 and 2001 censuses - 100% data". Statistics Canada. 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
  7. ^ "2006 Census: Corrections and updates". Statistics Canada. 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2010-09-26.
  8. ^ a b c d e "2012 Municipal Affairs Population List" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. November 22, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "2007 Official Population List" (PDF). Alberta Municipal Affairs. May 26, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c "Corrections and updates". Statistics Canada. March 21, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.

External links

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